The Leadership Institute's Silver Leadership Program will be hosting a fashion show at Miron Student Center (MSC) Little Theater Wednesday, April 10 at 8 p.m. to help raise funds for the Children's Specialized Hospital. Every year the Leadership Institute asks its Silver level leaders to create an original event that they will plan, create and host. Through this event, students will gain skills in communication, cooperation and common purpose while supporting the Children's Specialized Hospital in Mountainside, New Jersey.

Project Kean is this year's Silver Leadership event. It is completely run by the students who create the theme and concept, run the event, contact designers and oversee all other aspects of planning events on campus. It will be taking place April 10 beginning at 8 p.m., featuring designers and models from the Kean community and local areas, as well as performances from some of Kean's many performance groups. The Silver Leadership has elected two of their very own, Joseph Laurino Jr. and Kiana Ayala, to host the evening full of fun, fashion and philanthropy for a good cause.

In addition to the event, there will be both a small bake sale and tricky tray event on the night of Project Kean. Outside of the Little Theater in the Pre-function Lobby, a bake sale and tricky tray with baked goods and baskets donated by the members of the Leadership program will take place.

The Leadership Institute is a program that educates students on skills they will need to succeed as a student leader on campus. This four-year program offers a leadership certification to a select group of students who apply. The program works in levels from T2K Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

Each level works toward a combination of key skills when creating their projects. The Silver Leadership Program is the second level of the Leadership Institute. The goal of the Silver Leadership Program is to increase a student's ability to succeed and contribute to the Kean University student community as leaders. It focuses on group values as well as collaboration, common purpose and controversy with civility.

By creating this event, the students are working with one another to plan all aspects of the event including concept, decoration, entertainment, participants, ticket sales, promotion and more. The show will feature designs from local designers like Remain Infinite, Big Sexy Inc., Love Your Melon, Kean Bookstore and more.

Previous events have been very successful in overall totals for the Children's Specialized Hospital. Last year Kean's Got Talent featured performances by talented students on campus and gave them the opportunity to showcase their skills and compete to win their area of performance. The same idea was in mind when creating Kean's Got Talent as this year's Project Kean, donating all of the proceeds from ticket sales, bake sales and basket tricky tray to the Children's Specialized Hospital.

With this event, the Silver Leadership program wants the Kean community to be involved through modeling for the fashion show! Interested students are encouraged to contact the Leadership Institute for more information at leadershipinstitute@kean.edu, visiting Miron Student Center (MSC), Room 215 or calling (908) 737-5182.

Brandon Gervais is a junior English education double major. Brandon works as an Editor for The Cougar’s Byte and originally joined the staff as a Staff Writer in November 2017. He is a part of the Leadership Institute as a Gold leader and has worked as a New Student Orientation Leader. In his free time, he is a performer for a world class independent competitive color guard team and coaches the Union High School Color Guard.